Having long held an interest in sustainability, The Greenstreams Project was set up in 2009 with the help of a dedicated, core group of campaigners. The purpose of Greenstreams was to clean up the rivers around Huddersfield, with a focus on the area from the source of the River Colne in the Pennines to its confluence with the River Calder at Cooper Bridge. The project also covered the canal systems running through, and around, Huddersfield.
With a history of providing power to the mills and serving as a conduit for the disposal of industrial waste, the water quality had become unsustainable for aquatic life. Greenstreams sought to get local communities involved in the care of the local environment and the river scene, partnering with local companies and most importantly the next generation, in the form of Huddersfield school children. We organised conferences to spread news between local council and local environmental groups and took school groups on class visits to explore the ecosystems of the local rivers and streams. We wanted to show the early years children that if they picked up a stone in the shallow parts of the river that there would be something wriggly underneath, which would serve as food for the trout that swam in the rivers and streams, which would in turn provide food for the birds that preyed on the fish in the river. It served as an important opportunity to teach the next generation about the circle of life and about nature, and how lovely a stream and river could be. Greenstreams was a great experiment, and I’m proud to say that it continues, in a form, today.
Greenstreams fostered a personal interest in the whole river and canal network in the United Kingdom and I have used my position as an MP to point out in Parliament, and elsewhere, over the last seven years, just how endangered and fragile some of our aquatic environments are. One example being the chalk streams in Kent and Hampshire. The chalk acts as a super filter to produce alkaline water that is calcium rich and provides a unique environment. If we are going to successfully rewild these iconic environments, we need to look very carefully at the way in which the streams flow, and the quality of the water. Critically we need to hold those to account who choose to wantonly pollute these precious ecosystems.
I’ve been involved in campaigns with high profile sustainability campaigners on all types of pollutants, but in the case of George Monbiot – focusing on agriculture waste and its effect on the rivers and the streams of the UK. Ecosystems are being endangered by farmers throwing manure and other farm waste into the nearest stream. In support of Monbiot’s campaign, I asked senior ministers in Defra, and elsewhere, why there were so few prosecutions against farmers who dispose of farm waste into the surrounding rivers and streams.
Of course, agricultural waste is only part of the picture, it’s well publicised that we have a huge problem with human waste being pumped into the sea in the UK. Again, many discussions have taken place in Parliament examining the fact that privatised water companies such as Southern Water and Yorkshire Water have increasingly been discharging human sewage directly into the sea, particularly at times of very heavy rain. Our rivers and streams are being polluted in equal amounts. In 2023 Thames Water was fined for pumping 72 billion litres of sewage into the Thames over the course of three years, pollution that flows onwards to further contaminate our seas and oceans.
In addition to human and farm waste, other poisonous pollutants such as tyre wear pollutants from vehicles and general rubbish, particularly plastic, are finding their way into our waters, and infecting the fish we eat. These collective pollutants are having strange side effects on aquatic life. Indeed, the Environment Agency published a report on the feminisation of male fish in English rivers, because of exposure to oestrogenic substances found in sewage. Clearly this is unsustainable and must continue to be challenged.
Furthermore, my experience with the Greenstreams Project has led me to champion the clean-up of the Thames by setting up the Westminster Commission on the River Thames Renaissance. You can find out more about this in my next blog post.